The Imp (Book XI: Brother Ivan Fyodorovich, facing p.452) 1949

Fritz Eichenberg made this wood engraving, The Imp, to illustrate Dostoevsky’s novel, The Brothers Karamazov. What strikes me is how Eichenberg coaxes so much tone and texture out of what appears to be a simple process. Look closely, and you can see the individual marks of the burin digging into the wood. He’s built up the image line by line. It gives a feeling of density, of a world packed in on itself. Take the devil figure leering in the background. He is rendered with such detail, his expression a mix of menace and mockery, almost like a gargoyle sprung to life. The naked figure in the foreground seems burdened by his presence, his very flesh made heavy by the devil's gaze. This reminds me of other artists like Max Beckmann and Kathe Kollwitz. The Imp feels part of a much larger conversation about the human condition, rendered in stark, unyielding black and white.